Mr. Obama's Wars

He's getting a "surge" of his own — Obama to send 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan, officials say. These are "in addition to the 17,000 the president announced earlier would be sent to Afghanistan."

Gareth Porter reminds us that despite the presidential announcement a month ago of the "timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months" there will remain a "transition force" that Orwellianly "will be called advisory and assistance brigades" and simply "won't be called combat brigades" — When a withdrawal is not a withdrawal.